Let it Snow - Merry Misfits

 This delightful little snowman is part of one of the new Christmas stamp releases from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous called Merry Misfits.

 To make this card I stamped the snowflakes from the set onto a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock, then embossed them with Ranger Snowflake Tinsel Embossing Powder. It is a white powder with tiny glitter pieces in it so it sparkles. Then I lightly colored it by spraying it with water and then lightly spraying some blue Distress Ink colors on it -- just use the colors you have. I think I used Blueprint and maybe Faded Jeans.
Then I stamped the woodgrain from the lumberjack set onto another piece of watercolor cardstock and embossed it with the Snowflake Tinsel. I used the same blue colors and watercolored the knot in to the woodgrain with a waterbrush so it looked like a little pond.

 Before I assembled the card I colored another piece of watercolor paper with Chipped Sapphire, then trimmed both pieces and edged them with a bit of brown Distress Ink.

 If you look closely here you can see the bits of glitter in the Snowflake Tinsel.

 To make the snow drifts I just cut the wood grain stamped paper along one of the lines above the pond that looks a little like a snow drift.
The trees were stamped from the cute set called Seasonal Scribbles. I stamped three trees in Pine Needles and then cut them out, inking the white around it with Pine Needles also.

 Here you can see how the knot in the wood is colored to make a little pond, and the Snowflake Tinsel makes the snow drifts sparkly.

 The snowman was stamped in Distress Archival Black Soot and colored lightly with Distress Inks. Then I made some pupils in his eyes with Distress Inks and a tiny detail brush. I cut him out, sprayed him with Distress Resist Spray and added Clear Rock Candy Glitter with a Glitter Duster, He's popped up with dimensional adhesive.

That's it! A super fun and festive card.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Tim Holtz Stamptember 2019 - Exclusive Limited Edition Set

It's Stamptember over on the Simon Says Stamp site and today's exclusive is a collaboration between Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous and Simon Says Stamp.

This fun Halloween set combines perfectly with the Monster Reunion Set released in August. This set is super fun and I predict it will sell out quickly, so don't wait! I have a link at the end to the set in the Simon Says Stamp website. It can only be purchased from Simon, and when they are gone they are gone.

Below are a few samples I made with these delightfully silly images.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

13 Halloween Projects for Friday the 13th

1.  Spooky Halloween Ideaology Panel

2. Memento Mori Ideaology Journal

3. Yorick's Skull

4. Tiny Ghoulish Graveyard

5. Memento Mori - Remember Death

6. Ghoulish Monsters Decor

7. Halloween Bookmarks - These bookmarks may look simple but they took forever because I made all of the paper by inking and stamping Distress Mixed Media Heavystock with Distress Oxides. Then I used all of my Tim Holtz Sizzix Alphas to cut out all the letters for each one...they took so long that I had to add them to this line up.

8. Tomb Sweet Tomb - This was a kit I made and sold years ago on my Etsy site. The coffin was an Ideaology Vignette Coffin and the urn was one of the Ideaology Trophy Cups that I cut the handles of and made a funeral arrangement in it. You can tell it was one of my first kits because there was zero staging done for the promotion. LOL

 9. A Swinging Wake - This was a kit I made a few years ago from some Dollar store frames and coffins. I wanted it to mimic the wake in the hallway of the Haunted Mansion, so I have a raven Ghost Host on the end of the Coffin (he's on a perch in the mansion hallway) and the photo spot I wanted to mimic the windows behind the coffin and then I added another funeral arrangement and funeral wreath symbolizing the many dead floral arrangements surrounding the coffin in the hallway. Yes, that coffin does light up just like the one in the mansion! And one little tidbit here -- the voice you hear as you pass saying "Hey! Let me out! Lemme Outta here!" is that of mansion Imagineer and Disney Legend, X Atencio.

 10. Trick or Treat - another kit I made one year. I had come into possession of a bunch of Ideaology Charm Tags, so I put them to use making fun kits and this was one of my favorites. The adorable vintage trick or treater was not part of the kit.

11. When Hinges Creak - I made a ton of these Haunted Mansion themed cards in 2017 after X Atencio died. He is the one who penned this quote and the one who wrote the script and theme song for the mansion, so I made over 20 of these for a Disney card swap using several Tim Holtz stamps.

12. MonsTEArous Brew - my first Sizzix sample for Tim and I had a ball making this card. It will forever be a favorite.

 

13.  All Hallows Eve - Creepy Masquerade

Candy Cauldron - Raised Die Cut Technique

This Candy Cauldron treat box was such a fun piece to make. I was looking at the delightful Sweet Treats candy die cuts and the fabulous Cauldron bigz die and as I was mulling over them, my mind kept going back to a trip I took to Salem, Massachusetts with my mom and sister several years ago while we were in Boston for my sister's cancer treatments.

While in Salem, we visited the House of Seven Gables, the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawethorne's novel and where his birthplace has moved. I love the dark grey, weathered wood siding on the house.

Directly across the street was America's oldest candy store, Ye Olde Pepper Companie Candies, founded in 1806.

Of course they had lots of delicious candies and sweets, but that day, being the history lover that I am, I had to try the historical candies that were displayed in copper cauldrons. The Black Jacks were a molasses chip candy and the Gibralters were a hard candy as well that came in lemon and peppermint. My sister got the butterscotch chips.

It was with this candy store in mind that I wanted to make a display that I thought would fit perfectly on a counter or shelf in their store, so this is the outcome.

The main technique I want to focus on in this post is how to make the raised designs on this piece. I'm calling it a raised die cut technique.

I used a large Etcetera Tag and a Vignette Drawer to make this piece.

The tag was too tall for the Vignette Drawer, so I cut off 4-5 inches to make the height ratio of tag to drawer fit better.

 I began by cutting the smallest candy die cuts and some bats from the Bat Crazy dies out of a thick cardstock. This is a #130 weight cardstock.

 Each candy piece has several pieces that you layer on top of them to make colorful interesting candies. But for this technique, you only need to cut the base pieces several times. Enough to fit all around the outside of the large Etcetera Tag that I used as a backing.

 I had to make another one for step out photos for this tutorial so my step out photos are using the 2nd smallest Vignette Boxes and the #8 Etcetera Tag. As I said before, for my actual piece, I used the Large Etcetera tag and the Vignette Drawer as the base.
I drew a line on the tag to show me where the candy border needed to end.

 I placed the candy pieces along the border and then when I was happy with their placement I adhered them with Distress Collage Medium.

 I also attached the bats to the drawer. Here I attached bats and candy to the front and side of the small Vignette Box.

 You want a layer of Collage Medium on the box and then over the die cut once it is securely in place.

 Here you can see the pieces all adhered to the boxes and the tag. Bear in mind you would do these same steps to the large tag and Vignette Drawer.

 Paint the pieces with Black Soot Distress Paint.

 Once it is dry, put a light covering of Hickory Smoke Distress Paint over it.

 Then lightly wipe away excess Hickory Smoke paint while it is still wet, revealing the die cut shapes.

 Once the paint is dry, get out Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Crayons.

 Scribble some of the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the die cuts.

 Rub it in with a slightly damp finger.

 It will look something like this. Remember, only slightly damp or it will look much differently.

 Then scribble some of the Black Soot Distress Crayon onto the die cuts.

 Rub it in with a slightly damp finger.

It should look like this when you are done. I was going for the distress grey wood look that is on so many buildings in Salem, including the House of Seven Gables.

You can see how it looks on the Vignette Drawer and tag.

For the Mini Hardware I put a little bit of Grit Paste on it and then painted it the same way as the wood pieces.

I have used this Raised Die Cut Technique in many different ways and it is very easy to change the look and feel of a piece just by changing the dies and the colors of Distress Paint and Distress Crayons that you use.For example, you could make one of these same pieces with the candy border, but change out the bats for other candy pieces and then paint it red or green for Christmas, or bright colors for a birthday or Easter.
As with all techniques, just take the time to practice, experiment,  and see what works best for you, but have fun.
Thank you for stopping by, and if you have any questions, please contact me through the form at the right.
Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!